Drivers beware highways agency officers have been ordered to report UK trucks to the police if found to be on rest breaks within the new emergency laybys on the A14! uk only drivers can expect a fixed penalty notice for illegally stopping.
Highways officers do not have the power to move you on if you are out of time this can only be done by a police officer or vosa. Dont be fooled they can only offer safety advise! The only exception is, if you are blocking a live lane causing a danger (The hard shoulder is not included)
This however does not apply if you do not reside in the uk because the police in this case will have to make an arrest, however this is resource intensive so they will not take action with foreign drivers in these circumstances highways officers are instructed not to act.
uk truckers shafted again.
This is news to me and its in my region.Where did this news come from?Was it a reliable source or one of our few, wannabe Policemen?
Source: Highways Agency route performance team woodlands
Backed by Cambridgeshire police.
What a load of ■■■■■■■■ …
So what is night driver to do when all the laybys are full of people overnighting and proper caught out for somewhere to park 
Or it’s not going to help your nights work by breaking early and stuffing your next driving period so as to complete the shift another 45 is required.
Nice if you are on hourly but crap if you are salaried…
Legislation making the driver do more hours than normally required.
Nice , another reduction in parking areas … The A50 will be next.
If I am tired and falling asleep then I WILL STOP ANYWHERE!!!(within reason) Let them take me to court I would explain to the Judge that it could be his children who take the full force of 44t running into the back of his car when I fall asleep
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This is getting stupid we NEED desprately more places to park. I don’t know about a fuel blockade we should just all park up where ever we may be at the end of a shift and draw the curtains just to make the point.
Thats fair enough but they were normal laybys before …
If they wanted new ones for emergencies then they should have made some rather than ■■■■■■■ up the ones that already exist .
at the comercial vechicle show earlier this year i went to the highways agency or as i call them chaos and mayhem officers I need to say no more if you know what I meen. I asked them is it safe to park on the hard shoulder on the motorway he said certainly not its very dangerous playing the fool i asked him then what is the difference between a layby on the A14 then traffic passes at the same speed say 56 mph my answer was i dont know but park safely ok I then went in search of vosa at the show. Mr vosa I have a big problem what or where do you call safe parking for having your breaks ie a gypsy camp 50 yards down the road worried if your fuel will be gone by the morning or a layby on the A14 being tossed about alnight long with no sleep, the tacho will state rest period but have you, So then mr vosa why did the highways agency tell me not to park close to the road he couldn’t answer me and told me you have a very sensible point . So I now never park in laybys sod the rules my Health and Safety for a change.
i’ve towed 3 off the a14 in relation to this topic,one that hit a resting truck from the rear ,another that had been struck from the rear and one that had been hit by a transit while going slowly up a steep hill while fully laden(38mph on the tacho).transit was written off and driver had to be released from the cab-trailer lost its rear lamps and bumper.when i go on the a14 at night there is ussually no room to stop even temporarliy(?).there is a real need for more safe parking along there,it is a motorway really after all,without the benefit of the hard shoulder.
Cheers LM,i will look into it.
Truckbuster,can i ask where you had a dealing with Traffic officers on the road and why you call them ‘chaos and mayhem’? because i dont know what you mean.
reply about these highway officers they are hooked on mahem one experience M25 junction 24 potters bar. underneath the interchange there was a incident they decieded to close of the whole of the M25 anticlockwise about half a mile before the interchange now this was so no one could see what was going on WHY didn’t they let drivers go up and over the junction the result chaos for people trying to get to the airport etc etc. Another time A14 lolworth car broken down he just sat behind it with 300 cones out why didn’t he tow it on to the verge or to a slip road result very long delays They will not get there hands dirty like helping some poor lady change a tyre. now every trucker has seen this, car broken down 2 FEET from a layby officers refuse to roll it into the layby in case it goes out of control so they sit behind until AA turn up and then they will roll it into layby.
Ah,now i understand.I can answer some of your issues.
1.99% of m/way closures are Police led incidents.We just simply cannot close at m/way without control room authorisation.
2.J24 does not have a diversion route.The clockwise diversion route is off at J23,A1 south,A406 and A10 to J25.
3.We are not allowed to ‘tow’ broken down vehicles.We can ‘carraigeway clear’ wrecks.Some officers will use a risk assessment and tow,others will follow procedures and not do it.I cant blame them,because if it goes wrong,the HA will not support them.
4. We are not allowed to change wheels,not even our own.Again,some officers will ‘advise’ the driver and the level of ‘advise’ can vary.,if you see what i mean.Unfortunately some officers will stick to procedure,and as explained,i can see why.Fortunately my team know i will support them 100%,so they will think outside of the box,which has included righting an overturned transit and clearing all three lanes 40 minutes before recovery arrived,and towing a 44 ton hgv out of lane one.Both are way outside of procedure,but it cleared the lanes.Only sunday night i cleared a 4x4 out of lane one in roadworks.
So please dont tar all officers with the same brush.I dont think all lorry drivers are unprofessional.
And we only carry 20 cones 
the hato’s are getting much better…i had to turn a unit round on the hard shoulder using a layby on the m42 and i did fear a full closure kind of event but i explained to them what we needed to do-a 3 point turn in the layby and hard shoulder-not encroaching the live lanes at all and they had a think-laid a few cones to close the hard sholder-dropped the speed down to 40 mph on the live lanes and watched us turn the unit round for a rear lift due to brake fire on the o/s/r position…no major fuss and done and dusted in short order then an ■■■■■■ to the next junction…a definate improvement.
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We are not allowed to ‘tow’ broken down vehicles.We can ‘carraigeway clear’ wrecks.Some officers will use a risk assessment and tow,others will follow procedures and not do it.I cant blame them,because if it goes wrong,the HA will not support them
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Not having a “go” at Hatso’s but surely when they were first conceived this was EXACTLY what their purpose was to be. To clear the road at the soonest opportunity and avoid traffic build up etc.
If they are not authorised to do this kind of work , then what REAL purpose do they serve?
Simply putting out cones and standing by is not much use in clearing traffic, which was the stated reason for them originally.
Del,i can assure you that no one is more frustrated at some of the procedures, than we are.
I believe you, as I said “not having a go” 
Thankyou extrucker seems like i was correct its a shame this country is well behind our freinds over the pond when it comes to clearing up the tinyest incidents. When ever i see an accident on the motorway thats just happened every thing has come to a holt just a quick shout out the window i will hold back the traffic and so will someone else in another lane its done in no time 3 lanes open in seconds then every one carrys on. Thankyou for confiming what i thought and being honest. 
People do love standing in lane 3 ,or 4 or 5,and exchanging details,with traffic speeding towards them.Mind boggling,when the majority of truck drivers would stop and let them move across.
didn’t know that 
